The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) appropriated $100 million in new funding for Impact Aid under section 8007 of Title VIII of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, as amended (ESEA).

Awarding Impact Aid Construction: Formula Grants

After reserving one percent of the appropriation for management and oversight, the Department of Education (ED) will award $39.6 million to 179 local educational agencies (LEAs) that are eligible as a result of their enrollment of certain numbers and types of federally connected children for whom they receive funds under section 8003 of the Impact Aid Program (Basic Support Payments).

ED plans to make the Impact Aid Construction formula grant awards of ARRA funds in April 2009.

Payments will be made based on the number of eligible federally connected children in average daily attendance who are dependents of members of the uniformed services and children living on Indian lands.

Uses of Funds for Impact Aid Construction: Formula Grants

Awards must be used for construction activities, including the preparation of drawings and specifications for school facilities; erecting, building, acquiring, altering, remodeling, repairing, or extending school facilities; and inspecting and supervising the construction of school facilities.

ED encourages recipient LEAs to use these funds for projects that can be initiated promptly after the receipt of the awards.

Awarding Impact Aid Construction: Competitive Grants

After reserving one percent of the appropriation for management and oversight, ED will distribute $59.4 million in competitive Impact Aid Construction grants.

The final selection criteria for the competitive grants will be announced in the Federal Register notice. The selection criteria that the Department will consider are (in the order they appear in the ARRA):

The current health and safety risk of a facility to school students and personnel;

The facility’s capacity to support the needs of the current enrollment;

The facility’s capacity to provide a comprehensive educational program that meets current State standards;

The extent to which projects would use energy-efficient and recyclable materials;

The use of non-traditional or alternative building methods to expedite construction and maximize cost efficiency;

The feasibility of completing the project within 24 months; and

The availability of other resources for the project

To be eligible for these grants, an LEA must:

Be eligible to receive funds under section 8002 (Payments for Federal Property) or 8003 (Basic Support Payments) of the Impact Aid program for fiscal year (FY) 2008; and

Have a total taxable assessed value of real property that may be taxed for school purposes of less than $100 million or have an average assessed value of real property per pupil that may be taxed for school purposes that is less than the State average.

The deadline for applications for the competitive grants was October 8, and the Department expects that awards will be issued by February 26, 2010.

Use of Funds: Impact Aid Construction: Competitive Grants

Awards must be used for construction activities, including the preparation of drawings and specifications for school facilities; erecting, building, acquiring, altering, remodeling, repairing, or extending school facilities; and inspecting and supervising the construction of school facilities.

Funds may only be used for the construction activities described in approved applications.

Accountability Principles

As with all Federal funds, States and LEAs are responsible for ensuring that the Impact Aid ARRA funds are used in accordance with all applicable laws and regulations.

The President and Congress are committed to spending ARRA dollars with an unprecedented level of transparency and accountability. Therefore, LEAs that receive Impact Aid ARRA funds should expect to report on how those funds were spent and the results of those expenditures. The Administration will post reports on ARRA expenditures on the Recovery.gov website.

LEAs will be asked to report on these expenditures separately from those made under other Impact Aid construction grants and to estimate the number of jobs preserved or created.

Recipients will need to maintain accurate documentation of all ARRA expenditures to ensure that the data reported are accurate, complete, and reliable.

The Department reminds all recipients of ARRA funding that they must promptly refer to the Department’s Office of Inspector General any credible evidence that a principal, employee, agent, contractor, sub-grantee, or subcontractor has committed a violation of federal criminal law involving fraud, conflict of interest, bribery, or gratuity violations found in Title 18 U.S.C., or a violation of the civil False Claims Act (31 U.S.C. 3729-33). Also, significant new whistleblower protections are provided for ARRA funding. The Department’s OIG may be contacted at 1-800-MIS-USED or oig.hotline@ed.gov.

Additional Information

ED will provide regular updates as additional information regarding the details of the ARRA grants become available.

ED will also provide further information on the Government-wide data collection and reporting requirements as this information becomes available.

Please email any questions or concerns about this information or the Impact Aid Program to: impact.aid@ed.gov.